WANTON MASSACRE
After picking up the ‘Celestial Void Dagger’, Lynne quickly left the weapons shelf for fear of being too tempted to simply take five weapons, as it was a complete waste. He figured he’d make another round later on, as perhaps there was something even more eye-catching on the upper shelves. He then moved on to the next shelf, which contained Potions, Herbs, Pills and Beastly Milks. Whilst some came in singulars, most were in batches of either two, four, six or ten. They mostly had general uses, ranging from replenishing Mana, curing poisons, cleansing body all the way to some more advanced ones that can be used as weaponized bombs of Mana. Although tempted, Lynne really didn’t want to pick anything from these ten floors, as all of them were consumables. He’d rather have something he can stick with than something that’s gone after a few uses. With that in mind, he moved onto the next shelf – fourth one – that contained ‘Beastly Souls’. ‘Beastly Souls’ are essences that are extracted after an evolved beast was killed. They were divided into nine separate ranks, depending on the Beast’s overall strength. Whilst they are mostly used for concocting poisons, or as an additional material in crafting weapons, they are also excelent sources of Mana for those who know the ‘Arts of Purification’, as beastly intent was still inside these souls. They had a round, spherical shaped and were fist-sized, mostly with dim colors. Lynne had absolutely zero interest in these and quickly left them behind.
Arriving to the fifth shelf in the row, he had finally reached his second pick, as this shelf contained ‘Spell Arts’.
In essence, ‘Spell Arts’ are writs of the highly acclaimed Mages that focus on one particular spell, explaining it in essence, with all the profound truths behind it. Every Magus can, in theory, cast every spell, as most of it was derived from one’s general understanding and imagination, however, those who had a greater understanding of the profound truths behind the spell could naturally empower the spell beyond ordinary means. That is to say, someone casting an ice bolt simply from imagination, and someone who was casting it with profound understanding, would show two completely different results. ‘Spell Arts’ are usually end results of dozens of years of studying, and even the lowest ones can go from anywhere between ten thousand to one hundred thousand coins, as they are extremely rare. As this was simply the first level of treasury, Lynne didn’t expect much; each first six floors each had around seven items, while upper four floors only had five each. It is important to understand that one even has the scroll containing the profound truths, one still needs to understand the truths himself, otherwise ‘Spell Art’ is a waste on them. Lynne had a good amount of confidence in his own comprehension abilities so he immediately moved to the seventh floor, not even paying a glance to those beneath, as he knew they weren’t actual ‘Spell Arts’, but more akin to ‘guides’ to proper spell casting.
“’The Art of Freezing World’,” he picked the sheet of paper next to the first scroll on the seventh floor of the shelf and started reading the general description of the spell. “Upon complete mastery, caster is able to turn anything within one hundred meters around him into solid ice.” Lynne, even as he is now, can do the same thing, but the differences lie in the small things. “Understanding this ‘Spell Art’ to completion enables one to freeze everything under the ‘Dark Ice’, and lowers Mana consumption immensely. In addition, understanding profound truths enables caster to freeze everything within half a breath.” even though the differences may sound miniscule, in the battle between two great Mages, these are the things that determine who lives and who dies. If one is able to cast a spell half a second faster, it means he will win if both of them cast the same spell. “Hmm,” Lynne muttered to his jaw. “I should probably just ignore anything related to mass-casting, as I decided to follow the path of Spellweaver Magus. What I need are movement spells and quick-casting ones. Ugh, I still have terrible accuracy, so I’ll have to practice more once I get back to the courtyard.”
The moment Lynne decided to follow the path of a Spellweaver, he had immediately concocted the image of who he wants to be eventually. Following the path of Magic blindly is simply disastrous, and only a fool would do it. Spellweavers were generally a headache to deal with, even if they were two times weaker than their opponents, simply because a Spellweaver usually knows trice the amount of spells as other paths. They also heavily rely on movement spells – something most other paths only have one or two of – and rarely cast a spell that expends huge amounts of Mana. There’s a saying in Magic world that ‘if you can’t kill a Spellweaver within a single move, your chances of ever killing him drop by ninety percent’, and it definitely isn’t just a musing.
However, at the same time, this is only the case for the skilled ones – as an inexperienced Spellweaver was basically worse than an ordinary soldier. As Lynne kept reading the descriptions of ‘Spell Arts’, the first one that caught his eye was all the way on the ninth floor of the shelf, and it was the last one he read.
“’Fiery Sweeps’,” he read slowly. “Engulfs caster’s feet in blue flames, increasing their speed tremendously for the next movement. Can be used subsequently,” this was perhaps the greatest difference between studying a ‘Spell Art’ and understanding the profound truths and simply doing the same from imagination. Usually, spells cast from simple creativity cannot be cast subsequently, however, profound truths behind the spell enable that. “And infinitely; however, Mana consumption increases with each subsequent cast. This resets after fifteen seconds without casting the spell. Hmm, yes, this one is great. Although I’m not sure about how much it actually increases the speed, it’s probably not miniscule. I’m also guessing that there’s more to it within the ‘Spell Art’. Well, you’ll be the first spell I learn – be honored!” Lynne picked the scroll without hesitation, but he didn’t look at it, as he still had three more treasures to pick. Naturally, he reserved one more spot for ‘Spell Arts’, if anything on the final floor caught his attention – and, luckily, it did.
“’Elemental Blade’”, he read calmly. “Manifests an elemental blade within caster’s hands. Basic understanding allows caster to manifest the blade of any four Basic Elements, advanced understanding allows him to manifest the blade of any four Advanced Elements, and profound understanding removes all restrictions. Blade has low Mana cost, and it won’t disappear until summoned back. This is essential for Spellweavers,” Lynne muttered. “I thought that I would need to use my own imagination to summon elemental blades, but lucky me! Not only is sustaining them free, I have a feeling much more benefits lie beneath the surface.” if he were to cast the same spell without understanding it completely, not only would his own summoned blade be weaker and harder to control, but sustaining it would also deplete his Mana. From this, one can conclude how beneficial ‘Spell Arts’ were to a Magus.
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As nothing else grabbed his attention, he eventually moved on to other shelves. In the end, besides two spell arts and a weapon, Lynne decided to pick up a ring called ‘Pocket Ring’ and a bracelet called ‘Shielding World’. ‘Pocket Ring’ had a very simple purpose – it had a pocket dimension within itself, roughly six by six meters. Its usage was even simpler, as one could store all sorts of items within it, regardless of size and weight, as long as there was some free space. While Lynne could create similar pocket dimension himself, it would cost him time and Mana each time he’d want to open it up, while the ring simplified the process greatly. Bracelet, on the other hand, as its name suggests, had shielding properties; once infused with Mana, it would create an invisible barrier around the wearer which would repel the oncoming attacks. Of course, the strength of the barrier depended on the amount of Mana that was infused, and there was naturally a limit to how strong a shield can be. However, as it was extremely practical, Lynne decided to pick it up, as creating shield himself would cost even more Mana, and it would still be weaker.
In truth, most treasures that Magus uses are related to simple filtering; whilst a weapon is great for attacking, most seek weapons that strengthen them personally. In the end, regardless of how powerful a treasure is, it all came down to the personal strength of the Magus – no amount of items can replace that.
Satisfied, Lynne knocked three times on the steel doors, and a few moments later they opened up. After showing that he had only picked five things, and even not hiding which ones, he was let go. The Guards were ordinary people and they didn’t practice magic, so they weren’t envious of the fact that he picked the five items he did. They simply wished they had aptitude for Magic, but that was just a dream they liked to have once in a while.
Lynne, having no more obligations, immediately went back to his courtyard. He had also requested one of the ordinary guards to bring him a few wooden dummies, and a few minutes later the guard came back alongside a few others, carrying three, two-meters tall wooden dolls. After thanking them, he was finally left alone in the spacious courtyard. Before moving on to accuracy practice, he still had to process the last of stacked Mana within the temporary storage, lest he blows up from within. The process was simple, but still extremely tiring, as he had to guide each strand of Mana personally through his veins as it basked the blood, and then into his soul, which was where his actual Mana reserves were stored. While his reserves certainly had improved, Lynne knew it was still far from enough. The easiest test in regards to Mana capacity was conducted via the ‘Mana Crystals’. He took the one Headmaster gave him before departing; it was a rather colorful opal stone, weighing less than a feather. He gently placed his hand atop of it and felt a strand of energy enter his body, and then directly into his soul. As the strand danced inside his soul, the stone began shimmering slightly, until it began releasing rays of light.
Rays of light were divided into three categories, based on their color: red, blue and purple, with red being of the lowest quality. For reference, one red ray of light would mean that one would be able to cast only a single, simple fireball before his Mana was depleted. Others had create a simple, numerical system to categorize this: one red ray had a value of 10, blue of 100, and purple of 500. These numbers became meaningless towards the later parts of Magus’ life, as they would be astronomical – in millions and billions – but early on they were a decent indicator.
At the moment, the strand of energy stopped dancing, and Lynne looked dejectedly at the lights released: one blue and five red rays of light were hovering lightly above the stone. The result was measly ‘150’, and Lynne knew very well what it meant – he was way behind. Most other Master Mages, even if younger than him, would rank in thousands. Some geniuses would even go as far as hundreds of thousands. Lynne knew very well that before he became an Archmage, his entire purpose of training would be on increasing his Mana reserves diligently.
“Ah, woeful me,” he stuttered as tears fell down his eyes. “I should have picked those stones that increased my Mana. Ah, what a waste of precious opportunity… I could have skipped this tedious Mana Absorption thing.” for the first time he truly regretted not listening to his father when he was younger. Even if he didn’t practice any Magic, he could have at least tried increasing his Mana bit by bit. Even if he did it offhandedly, by now his numbers would at least be in high hundreds, not barely in them.
As he finally processed the last of the Mana from his last Absorption, he immediately focused and sucked in another massive amount and began processing it. However, just as he started, he was woken by an extremely strong earthquake and distant sounds of explosions. He immediately realized that they didn’t come from the Palace, but someplace at the edge of the Kingly Ring. Bolting onto his feet, he cussed inwardly at whoever caused it, and immediately headed out. He was certainly not alone. Just as he began descending the stairs outside the Palace, he was joined by Princess Ella, Captain Edgar, First Lieutenant Sarah, Second Lieutenant Samuel as well as another young lad who introduced himself as the Prince Fyire Linden, the one who was accused of betrayal by the Viscount Mayson. The lad was in his mid twenties and had relatively coquettish appearance and quite an attitude. His hair was tied up in a tail and was completely golden in color. He wore a gold-adorned coat above his white, silken attire, and had a saber tucked in an even golden-er scabbard by his waist. After the short introduction, all five immediately headed over to the source of the explosion – it was just outside the main entrance, and when Lynne arrived, he couldn’t help but crease his brows, while Sarah actually had to look away. Body parts were strung along the nearby walls and the street, and blood was everywhere. From Lynne’s quick calculation, at least thirty people died. Sounds of screaming and crying echoed out, and smoke arose like a grim prophecy. After all, this was definitely not a natural disaster… and it came on the same day that Viscount Mayson was imprisoned. Lynne’s face grew even grimmer, but the moment he turned around, he saw the King and the entire entourage of the soldiers, and he immediately knew it was too late.